Greece Is Urged To Examine Questioning Of Pakistanis

By ANTHEE CARASSAVA

Published: December 14, 2005

A prominent lawyer called on Parliament on Tuesday to investigate accusations that a group of Pakistanis had been kidnapped and psychologically tortured in questioning here linked to the July 7 bombings in London.

The lawyer, Frangiscos Ragoussis, representing Pakistanis here, said his petition included a ''detailed dossier'' of torture methods used on seven Pakistanis who, he said, were hooded, detained and threatened with injury to themselves and their families on July 15 at an undisclosed location near here.

The petition follows a BBC report broadcast Tuesday indicating that British MI6 agents were involved in a covert operation in Greece, where they detained 28 foreign suspects -- all Pakistani men.

''It's imperative,'' Mr. Ragoussis said in a telephone interview on Tuesday, ''that we determine whether these torture methods were, in fact, used. More importantly, its crucial to establish whether British agents were involved in these kidnappings and interrogations.''

Greek and British officials insist that their security services do not use torture domestically or overseas.

Senior members of the center-right government in Athens said they were ''clueless'' about the accusations. House Speaker Anna Psarouda-Benaki refused to meet Mr. Ragoussis to discuss his petition.

None of the accusations involve physical abuse. Most of the detainees seem too scared to talk publicly.

''They told us not to say anything,'' said a detainee contacted in central Athens who spoke on condition of anonymity because of fear of reprisals. ''They threatened the worst against our families if we went against their order.''

All seven Pakistanis represented by Mr. Ragoussis have relatives in Britain. Their secret detention and questioning stemmed from telephone calls they made to cellphones belonging to some of the suicide bombers in the London bombings, Mr. Ragoussis said.

None of the seven were charged.

''They just took off our hoods,'' the detainee here said, ''and tossed us out on a barren road.''